Respect for Marriage Act passes Senate

Newly elected Republican congressman George Santos has apologised for false claims he made regarding his education and employment history.

US-based crypto exchange Kraken said on Wednesday (Dec 28) it would cease its operations in Japan next month, citing the current market conditions in the country and a weak crypto market globally.

Lily Collins underwent a major hair transformation for the highly-anticipated third season of Netflix's Emily In Paris, which premiered last Wednesday.The actress, 33 - who plays series lead Emily Cooper: a stylish American marketing executive working in Paris - bravely cut a Jane Birkin inspired fringe for the shoot.She thanked pro hairstylist Gregory Russell for 'starting Emily's new hair journey,' as well as her own 'fringe era.' Makeover: Lily Collins (pictured) underwent a major hair transformation for the highly-anticipated third season of Netflix's Emily In Paris, which premiered last WednesdayLily shared the nerve-racking moment when Gregory took the first chop in a video shared to Instagram on Tuesday.A makeup-free Lily can be seen sitting on a stool with a pink satin cape around her as Gregory meticulously parts out her brunette tresses. After creating the perfect section, Gregory pins back a portion of her soon-to-be bangs in order to work in layers.As Lily smiles nervously, Gregory quickly grabs ahold of the bottom layer and goes in for the cut.

With 2022 coming to a close, here are (in no particular order) some of the year's best LGBTQ+ television.In an age of endless reboots and sequels, it's hard to get excited for anything, no matter how beloved the original. Then came A League of Their Own, Amazon Prime's reboot of the classic film about a group of women starting their own baseball league during World War II.Decidedly more queer than the original, this iteration goes all in on its LGBTQ+ characters, including amazing turns by Abbi Jacobson, D'Arcy Carden and Chanté Adams.

One day, during a previous job, our PR team received a new employee with little warning. I immediately went to LinkedIn to find this mystery person, to no avail — I think this is the only person I have crossed paths with professionally who doesn’t have a LinkedIn page.Through a Google search, I found some self-generated content that hyped a well-connected political operative.

In her recently released interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Chaya Raichik, the bigot behind the Libs of TikTok social media account, accused LGBTQ people and their allies of grooming children for sexual abuse.

The woman behind the far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok finally showed her face in an interview with Tucker Carlson that premiered Tuesday.During the hour-long interview, Chaya Raichik said LGBTQ+ people and the people who support them are grooming children — that is, preparing them for sexual abuse.  Appearing Tuesday on Tucker Carlson Today on the Fox Nation subscription streaming service, Raichik sat down with Carlson, one of her biggest supporters, and spewed anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and conspiracies. At the start of the show, Carlson lamented how the public ought to be cautious in its consumption of news and information because of bias in reporting while simultaneously declaring Libs of TikTok a legitimate news source (it's not).Carlson played a 58-second clip of videos shared by Libs of TikTok, mostly of teachers with colorful hairstyles discussing personal pronouns and non-gendered concepts in classrooms. "That's information that you should definitely have but have never had until Libs of TikTok bothered to put it in one place and show you, and for doing that, the person who runs Libs of TikTok has been the focus of a lot of hate and many threats.

season three , posed for a kiss in front of the Christmas tree with her husband Charlie McDowell while wearing matching pajamas. would be horrified by the fashion choices here, which might be the point.On Christmas Day, shared two snaps on her Instagram grid. In the first, Collins (still rocking Emily's season three ), McDowell, and their dog are sitting outside in their matching long-sleeve white crewneck pajamas with red reindeer, trees, and snowflakes.

Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced a coalition of 18 attorneys general that are opposing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act — also known as the “don’t say gay” law.Racine’s office said in a press release late last week that the law posed a threat to LGBTQ+ students, emphasizing that they are at particular risk and harm to discrimination.“My office has a strong track record of fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the District and across the country to make sure that everyone can simply be who they are and love who they love,” Racine said.

Dame Joan Collins wowed her fans as she celebrated Christmas Day in Beverly Hills in style.

An incoming government minister in Israel suggested that doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ+ patients on religious grounds.

Perthshire Pride is “committed to working with all people” in the region after legislation to make it easier for individuals in Scotland to change their legally recognised gender was passed by MSPs at Holyrood last week.

The third season of The L Word: Generation Q has brought more twists and turns than ever before.

Showtime has released a first look at Lauren Ambrose as Van in the upcoming second season of hit LGBTQ+ teen drama Yellowjackets.

Traitors' John McManus has insisted “I’m no bully”, after facing a backlash over his clash with co-star Aaron Evans on the show.

Spice Girls star Melanie C has pulled out of her upcoming New Year’s Eve performance in Poland. 

Congressman-elect George Santos, who is out, confirmed that he had deceived voters by fabricating parts of his professional and academic history.In interviews with conservative-owned media outlets, The New York Post and WABC-AM radio, Santos, 34, admitted to some of the lies uncovered in a New York Times investigation.And while he did admit to those misrepresentations, he told the Post that still plans to take office.“I am not a criminal,” he told the paper.The Times investigation alleged that Santos lied about going to Baruch College before going on to work at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. The college and those companies said they couldn’t find any record of Santos’s graduation or employment.He told the Post that he “never worked directly” with those two companies, but that he work with them through a company called Link Bridge.Santos also said he never graduated from Baruch or any college.“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he said.

Gay American footballer Collin Martin has shared his thoughts on why the Premier League has no openly queer players. 

Drag Race star Mistress Isabelle Brooks has shut down fatphobic “fans” with a powerful statement on social media.

“Of course, I found a kind of permanent love - that’s very ungracious, but I got married nearly eight years ago and that’s changed things.“Especially talking about that child early on who knew he was gay and saw ahead of him only a life of exile and shame.”Stephen admitted: “The prospect that I could ever actually be married and live happily and for it to be no big deal to anybody[…].That’s made a big difference.”Back in 2016, Stephen credited Elliot with saving his life after falling madly in love and tying the knot the year before.Stephen has been open about his battle with depression and attempted to commit suicide in 2012. But the national treasure gushed over his husband, who he credited for helping him get to "a great place”."My husband has saved my life," Stephen told The Sun. "I think just the happiness and security and calm of being with him. I am in a great place right now." He added: "Rates of suicide and self harm are terrifying through Britain.

Spoilers ahead for episode five of Willow

BBC has finally released the first sneak peek at Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney in the upcoming Doctor Who specials. 

Gay icon Cher may or may not be engaged.On Christmas morning, Cher posted an image of a large diamond ring on Twitter. “There r no words, Alexander, A.E.,” she wrote.

Dear Plus Reader,Sheryl Lee Ralph has made a career of being a trailblazer, so breaking boundaries is nothing new for the Emmy winning legend of stage and screen — which is why we’re so very excited to have her grace the cover of our annual African American issue. In addition to paving the way for women of color in the entertainment industry (she directs and produces too), Ralph was one of the first high-profile celebrities to use her platform to raise awareness around HIV and AIDS.

Amy Grant, the Queen of Christian pop who crossed over to the mainstream with several hit songs, recently announced she is hosting the same-sex marriage of her niece.The Grammy winner, 2022 Kennedy Center Honor recipient, and the first Christian artist to have an album go platinum described her progressive views to The Washington Post: “Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: love God and love each other. I mean, hey, that’s pretty simple.” Grant also detailed her reaction when her niece first came out: What a gift to our whole family to just widen the experience of our whole family.Grant, in 2013, told Pride Source, “I know that the religious community has not been very welcoming [to LGBTQ+ people], but I just want to stress that the journey of faith brings us into community, but it's really about one relationship. The journey of faith is just being willing and open to have a relationship with God.

(CNN) -- After thousands of customers in Pierce County, Washington, were affected Sunday when burglars vandalized three energy substations, power was then knocked out for even more homes after a suspect or suspects gained access to a fourth substation, vandalizing the equipment and causing a fire, according to an update from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.The damaged equipment cut power to around 14,000 customers, police said, weeks after an attack in North Carolina left thousands in the dark for days amid federal warnings of extremist threats to electricity infrastructure.The Christmas Day vandalism near Tacoma marked more such incidents in the state, where two November attacks on Puget Sound Energy substations were investigated by the FBI.

(CNN) -- "My whole life: 'She ain't Black enough. She ain't White enough.' Well, how about she's not obedient enough? How 'bout she ain't fearful enough?"That's Whitney Houston, played by Naomi Ackie, in Kasi Lemmons' moving and elegant new biopic, "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody." She's responding to criticisms that she's out of touch with Black audiences -- that she's merely an ingénue whose image and sound have been carefully constructed by White music executives to do just one thing: people-please.The scene is one of many in the movie neatly capturing the pressures the real-life Houston navigated as she walked a professional tightrope, trying to maintain her identity and integrity while meeting the demands of the record moguls who wanted her to tamp down her Blackness, behave "respectably" and quash even suggestions of queerness.

GEMMA Collins looked stunning in a sparkly low-cut mini dress as she celebrated Christmas with her loved ones. The Essex star, 41, slipped into a gold sequin frock as she posed alongside fiancé Rami Hawash, who sported a Santa costume and white beard. The former Towie star put her famous curves on display in the glitzy figure-hugging ensemble.

Imagine a world where a parent, upon seeing their young child moving in and out of the gender binary, becomes excited and proud, and when a dad comes home to see little Alejandro wearing his mom’s dress, immediately rings his own parents to tell them the great news, or when Mariposa asks to work construction with her dad, mom beams with pride at her beading circle. Historically, that was the way Two-Spirit children were honored by many tribes.

Sajid Ikram, 49, is an IT entrepreneur living in Canada. This is an edited version of his story, as told to CNA Insider.

This is President Joe Biden’s statement following passage of the Respect for Marriage Act:

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) lashed out with a Bible verse Wednesday morning, after the Senate passed legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage, while rejecting his attempt to infuse special religious rights through an amendment that even some Republicans refused to support.

For anyone wondering what marriage means to one of the best-known gay men in the U.S., Chasten Buttigieg has an answer.“My marriage has filled this house with so much love it makes me want to be a better husband, father, and citizen every day,” the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in a Tuesday post on Medium. “It’s called me to something bigger than myself while recognizing that my kids are now the most important thing in life, and I’d do anything to protect them.

LGBTQ+ politicians, civil rights activists, and allies are thrilled with the U.S. Senate’s passage Tuesday of the Respect for Marriage Act, which will write marriage equality into federal law and protect it from being rescinded by the Supreme Court.The House of Representatives has already approved the bill, but since the Senate amended it with a religious freedom provision, it has to go back to the House for another vote.

The U.S. Senate voted 61-36 Tuesday to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which will write marriage equality into federal law, maintaining it even if the Supreme Court overturns its 2015 ruling that established equal marriage rights nationwide.The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives, but the Senate added an amendment to it aimed at protecting religious freedom, so the new version needs to be voted on by the House before it can go to President Joe Biden for his expected signature.“Today, after many rounds of bipartisan talks and after many doubts that we could even reach this point, we are taking the momentous step forward for greater justice for LGBTQ Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote.He said the first person he would call after the vote would be his daughter Alison, who is in a same-sex marriage."What a great day," he added after the vote finished.The push for the Respect for Marriage Act came after Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Obergefell v.

(CNN) -- The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on final passage of a bipartisan bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage.The chamber on Monday night reached an agreement to hold three amendment votes starting at 3:45 p.m. ET before a final passage vote.